The Monolith Murders

by Lorne L. Bentley

  * * *

  A thousand miles away a brunette had just landed in Idaho. Her selection of a private flight had a purpose—she could take a weapon onboard without the usual strict security precautions that she would have experienced on a regular commercial flight.

  The sky was darkening as she provided the false driver’s license to the Hertz employee. She held two versions of the license, one for the rental card identification which was to be thrown away after she completed her mission, and another for her permanent relocation from Sarasota. She knew if she executed the murder carefully, she would never be traced; but regardless she was still prepared to relocate somewhere outside of Florida. She was going to dispose of the rental car in some large city and take the train or bus to a city of her choice.

  The town where she was heading was experiencing a severe recession. In an austerity effort the local officials had decided not to light every other street light in an attempt to reduce the municipal budget. This fit her plan perfectly since she definitely preferred the dark to execute her plan.

  * * *

  Fred felt he might have a bargaining chip with Shade, and he decided to use it. “I have just one request; and if you agree to it you, can give me your tests until the cows come in.”

  Shade didn’t like to relinquish his need for absolute control, but he reluctantly asked, “What is it?”

  “I want to bring my wife here. She’s been continuously on the road, desperately trying to avoid Donna Lang; she’s physically exhausted, and emotionally on the edge. I don’t see how I can concentrate on any test while knowing that Maureen is suffering as much as she is.”

  Shade’s response surprised Fred. “I have no problem with your request. We encourage a good family relationship; that always helps our agents in their execution of duties.

  “Miss Black, we won’t begin testing Fred until Monday. Meanwhile, have him transported to wherever he needs to go to pick up his wife; when they return, she can stay with him in his present quarters. Now, please immediately arrange for the transportation to get Fred’s wife here.”

  “Great,” Fred said. “Finally, things are starting to look up.”

  Chapter 44

  That same day the CIA provided a company jet to fly directly to the Boise, Idaho airport. Fred called Maureen at her motel and provided her with the flight schedule. He told her that when she got back to Washington they would be staying in the center of the CIA compound where they would be well protected.

  Maureen was ecstatic. “Finally!, she said. “We’ll be together again and safe. And, Fred, what are you going to be doing while I’m there?”

  “Other than taking a massive number of psychological tests, I have no idea. I understand that Monday I will start on the tests. In all that should take about three days. I don’t have a clue as to what they have planned for me after that.”

  “Did you get into any trouble because you had the monolith for all these years?”

  “Not really. In fact I’m one of them now; I took the oath. Don’t I sound different?” he teased.

  “Yes, I sense that you’re taller and much more mysterious.”

  “I guess I’m taller because of the thick socks I recently bought. As far as being more mysterious, now that I’m part of the CIA, that’s already become part of my new persona.”

  “What do they expect from you?”

  “Again I have no idea, but they have made it possible for us to be together again. So whatever they want from me as a tradeoff will be well worth it.”

  “Okay, darling, I’ll see you at the airport.”

  “I can’t wait, hon. At last we’ll be together again; and this time it will be forever, I promise.”

  Maureen spent a few more hours at the motel. About 6 p.m. she called the motel owner and asked if he could help her take her limited luggage to her car. He said he would come to her room in a few minutes.

  Maureen had just finished putting the last of her clothes in the small suitcase she had purchased when she heard the knock on her door. She was in much too positive a mood to remain cautious; so she flung open the door and turned around to go to the bed to pick up her suitcase. When she turned around again, she couldn’t believe who was standing there.

  * * *

  Earlier, Fred had received a call from the pilot who had been directed to take him to Boise. “Mr. Harris, I’ve got some good news; we can leave earlier on your flight. My other scheduled flight was canceled, and Mr. Shade said to make sure I take good care of you. You must have really impressed him.”

  “That’s great news. I won’t even tell my wife that I’m arriving early; I’ll just surprise her.”

  * * *

  Jim had some urgent news to pass on to Fred. He called his cell phone, but the phone had been shut off. He then called his only CIA contact at Langley, Debra Black. “Debra, this is Captain Herbert, Fred’s boss.”

  “Yes, Jim, I know who you are. Don’t you recall I met you a couple of times about four years ago?”

  “Sure, now I remember. Look, I have to reach Fred. It’s urgent but he’s turned off his cell phone.”

  “Fred’s flying to Boise, Jim, and he’s taking a special CIA flight. With our flights we stay off communication lines while we’re in the air. That’s so the enemy can’t locate our positions.”

  “How do I reach him?”

  “I can try to get in touch with the airport where he’s landing, and they can get the message to him when he leaves his plane. Give me the message and I’ll convey it.”

  Black took down the chief’s message verbatim. She couldn’t believe what he had to say.

  * * *

  Fred landed almost two hours earlier than originally scheduled. The CIA rented a part of the commercial Boise airport for their private use. A car was waiting for Fred when he arrived.

  Debra Black’s message to the CIA was never delivered to Fred. The person who received the call didn’t realize the flight was arriving earlier than scheduled. By the time he learned of Fred’s arrival, Fred had already driven off in the private CIA car loaned to him.

  When Fred reached Maureen’s motel, he went into the office to determine what room she was in. The manager said, “I was just going up to her room to pick up her luggage.”

  Fred said, “I’ll be happy to get it.”

  “Going to be busy up there in that room,” the manager said. “You’re the second visitor she has had in the last few minutes. Some lady is visiting her right now.”

  Fred was overcome with panic, as he knew no one should be visiting Maureen. He bounded up the motel stairs.

  * * *

  Maureen was frightened, but not surprised. “How did you find me?” she asked.

  “Oh, it wasn’t hard. Did you forget that you told me where you were headed the day I called you? I just made a few phone calls to the local motels and hit pay dirt on my tenth call. Remember, Maureen, we’re best buds—I told you I would do anything for you; and you seemed so alone and helpless when we spoke on the phone.”

  “Of course, I’m sorry I haven’t been more hospitable, you just surprised me coming out of the blue.”

  Maureen stepped forward to hug her visitor. But sensing something different in Sue, something that was somehow ominous, Maureen backed away.

  Sue said, “Hey, don’t run away from me. I’ve a message for you from a mutual friend.”

  “Who’s that?”

  “Why, Donna, of course! Oh, my! Didn’t I tell you that she’s my sister?

  “Stop it, Sue! You’re frightening me; this isn’t funny.”

  Sue pulled a large knife from her pocketbook. “It’s not intended to be. I’ve been after you since I took steps to insure your car would break down while I was nearby so I could meet you and offer you help. Unfortunately, every time I attempted to visit you at your house, Fred or some damn policeman was on guard. Then, when you took off for only God knows where, I thought I would never find you.

  “Then I recalled you once gave me your
cell phone number. When I called you, and you told me where you were headed, I knew that it wouldn’t be long before I’d find you. Now I’m here.”

  Sue swung her knife, cutting a deep gash in Maureen’s right arm. She continued advancing toward a retreating Maureen, until Maureen reached the motel’s outer wall. Having nowhere else to escape and weakened by shock and fear, Maureen slumped down helplessly on the motel’s floor.

  Sue smiled, “It will be over soon. Donna will be so happy.”

  At that moment Maureen screamed.

  “Useless, my dear, absolutely useless,” Sue said.

  A second later Sue heard the jarring sound of the motel door’s latch breaking. She had her arm fully raised above her head and was about to plunge the knife into Maureen; but the noise of the breaking door made her pause for a moment. She never turned around but started the fast final descent of the blade toward Maureen’s chest.

  Sue never heard the shot that pierced her head, ending her life.

  Fred ran to Maureen, pushing aside the lifeless body of Sue Granton. Seeing the blood oozing from Maureen’s arm, Fred pulled off his tee shirt to make a temporary tourniquet.

  In a few minutes Maureen was in the emergency room of the local hospital. While Fred was waiting impatiently outside, hoping for a positive report from the emergency room surgeon, his cell phone rang.

  “Fred, thank God I got in touch with you! Sue Granton is Donna’s sister, you have to warn Maureen!”

  “It’s all right, Jim; I just shot and killed Sue, but she severely injured Maureen before she died. I’m outside the emergency room now waiting for the doctor’s report.”

  “God, Fred, I pray that Maureen will be okay. But I had done what you asked me to do on your hunch. I sent a photo of Sue to the warden at the Tallahassee Prison. She checked with the guards, and one remembered that Donna had a female visitor not long ago; and he recognized Sue from the photo I sent. Right after that, I got a call from the Police Chief in Lancaster and he said that Mrs. Brown’s third child, who was adopted, ultimately married a John Granton. No question that Sue Granton was Donna’s sister.”

  “Good work, Jim. The only clue I had was that when I met Mrs. Brown she seemed to be troubled over something in her past. The census records I obtained listed the third child as a Sue Brown. I just had a feeling it might have been Sue Granton, but I couldn’t prove it.”

  “Well, now you can. I’ll call the local police and try to facilitate your ability to get out of the area once Maureen’s okay. But you will most likely have to go back there to testify if they need you.”

  “One question Jim, there was a fourth child—Theresa, I believe was her name.”

  “Sorry Fred, I had no luck on finding out about her. But I guess we did get the info we needed.”

  “Yes, I agree, but I have to cut off. The doctor is coming out of the emergency room.”

  Fred received positive news that although Maureen’s cut was deep, no tendons were severed and they had given her transfusions to replenish her blood loss. She had been placed in intensive care and would spend some time in the hospital recuperating.

  When Fred informed Mr. Shade that he could not make it back for the Monday morning marathon of tests, Shade was not happy. But he reluctantly put off the tests to the following week.

  * * *

  Their flight back to D.C. was a smooth one, much smoother than the helicopter flight that Fred had taken from the Venice airport to the D.C. area. In Fred’s eyes copters were like metal bumble bees, God never created them to be able to fly.

  The plane landed on a private strip a few miles from the CIA compound.

  When Maureen entered the apartment assigned to them, she investigated every room in their unit and turned on a light in each room. Most importantly, she insured that the blinds in each of the rooms were tightly closed. Fred realized that her fears were deeply rooted now.

  That night Fred and Maureen came together passionately, with a desire that had grown during their time apart. Fred was especially careful not to hurt Maureen’s injured arm. For Maureen the night was a strange brew between pure ecstasy and intense pain; but it was worth it to have Fred back in her arms again.

  The next day the agency loaned them a government car and, responding to Maureen’s urgent request, they went directly to the Tyson’s Corner Mall, just off the continuously frantic Washington Beltway.

  The day that Maureen had left San Diego, so seemingly long ago, the weather had been pleasant and warm. Other than the light jacket she wore that day, she had no protection from the ravages of the northern climate through which she had traveled. She could have stopped in any of the towns she went through to purchase warmer clothing, but her constant fear of Donna haunted her and she had never dared to venture out in public to do any shopping.

  Now Fred was here to protect her so she was able to spend hours without any lingering fear, shopping for needed clothes, enjoying gourmet food and tasting white wine at one of the mall’s numerous restaurants.

  Fred stayed close to Maureen at all times. He felt fairly positive that Donna was not in the area, but a couple of times he spotted blondes with the same figure as Donna’s. In each case he approached them with his hand inside his sports coat, firmly holding the handle of his revolver just in case.

  Fred was not a shopper; his routine during his annual one-day Christmas purchasing trek was to go to pre-selected stores by himself and eradicate his misery with two hours of concentrated shopping. Maureen, on the other hand, enjoyed looking over every article in detail even if it was not on her shopping list. Normally, Fred would be bored watching Maureen’s methodical and unproductive process; but today he saw how much she was enjoying herself. As an added bonus, for the first time in weeks they both felt relatively secure.

  Day transitioned to night quickly in the wintry northeast and Maureen started to grow more concerned as the sun dipped lower in the sky. Maureen had already bought enough clothes for a three month stay, including a well insulated black leather coat to get her through a harsh northern winter.

  “Let’s go,” she abruptly said to Fred.

  Fred could sense the shift in Maureen’s attitude as the sky darkened; she was no longer enjoying herself and her feelings of security were dissipating proportionately as the evening crept slowly into night.

  Back at the CIA unit, Maureen repeated the methodical security measures she had followed the day before, checking out and securing the unit before she could try to relax.

  Chapter 45

  That night both Maureen and Fred retired early. The next morning Fred had his usual breakfast. Maureen made sure they bought a week’s supply of food and plenty of coffee. Before Fred left Florida for the CIA headquarters, he had delivered Molly and Who Knows to his favorite dog sitter. Molly was never happy when she was away from her house, but this particular dog sitter bribed her with several treats during the day. As small as Molly was, she usually gained a pound or so whenever Fred and Maureen were away for an extended period.

  Fred placed a call to the sitter—everything was fine except he was told that Molly and Who Knows both missed him. Fred’s next call was to Jim.

  “Jim, I’m sorry, but they may keep me here a few weeks or more.”

  “It’s all right, Fred, I know your return will be delayed and I can deal with it.”

  “Any recent news concerning Donna?”

  “None, Fred; and unfortunately we didn’t obtain any additional evidence back at the AU murder scene.”

  “I assume the only new prints they found were those of Donna.”

  “No Fred, she apparently wiped them clean before she left. Hey, Fred, this is my day off, and the wife and the kids want to take off to Disney World in the next hour. So give me a call tomorrow.”

  Maureen had just entered the kitchen as Fred was saying goodbye to Jim.

  “Who was that?”

  “It was Jim, I was just checking in.”

  “’Is everything okay with him?”


  “Yes, and the dogs are fine as well; I just talked to the sitter.”

  “I really miss them; they’re like the only kids we’ve had so far.”

  “Yeah, I miss them, too, hon. They can be a real nuisance but when they’re gone it’s like a missing piece of my life.”

  Fred paused and thought about Jim’s comment.

  “Gee, that’s strange,” he thought aloud.

  “What’s strange?” asked Maureen.

  “Well, I guess I can tell you now. The security guard at AU was killed, and so was Doctor Anderson.”

  “My God, Donna got to them both.”

  “That’s what’s strange, at least in my mind. The fingerprints at the scene had all been removed.”

  “Fred, Donna’s a smart woman so she’s hiding her tracks; what else would you expect?”

  “But we found her prints at the home of Anderson where she killed Mrs. Anderson. Her prints were also found at Atwell’s condo. She didn’t attempt to wipe them clean at either of those places, so why would she suddenly be concerned about that issue? Besides, she has already been convicted of being a mass murderer. A few more murders, more or less, wouldn’t change her sentence when we catch her.”

  “I’m glad you said when, rather than if.”

  “Don’t worry, Maureen, she will be caught.”

  Maureen didn’t respond, but she was thinking, I’m not so sure about that.

  Chapter 46

  Early Monday morning Fred was escorted to what in all ways appeared to be a classroom for spooks. It contained a series of large blackboards all around the room. A speaker’s podium was situated at the front. There were about twenty desks in the room, all facing the front of the classroom. Only two people were in the massive room—Fred and an elderly man with bifocals and thinning white hair, who was standing at a podium carefully arranging his papers.

  “Lieutenant, my name is Dr. Cunningham; I’m going to give you a series of psychological tests. You have exactly two hours to compete each of them. When you’re done with the first test, you will have a fifteen minute break. When you have completed all of the first series, there will be a one- hour lunch break; and then this afternoon you will take two additional series of tests. There are no rights or wrong on the tests; I want you to put down the first response that comes to mind. We will give you a total of three series of tests today and an equal amount Tuesday and Wednesday. When you are finished with the battery of tests, I will evaluate them and you will be given feedback on the results Thursday afternoon by Mr. Shade. Do you have any questions?”